Investigative journalists and civil society played a crucial role in bringing a country in the clutches of patronage networks back from the brink.

The M&G’s amaBhungane team has won the 2014 Taco Kuiper Award for its investigation into the upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla homestead.

Three of the Mail & Guardian’s investigative journalists on Friday won the prestigious Taco Kuiper Award for Investigative Journalism.